The problem if you want to beat Castlevania is the Grip Reaper. No wonder why early revisions sometimes frozse here - even if they don't there is no way you can past it without holy water, and bring holy water to the Reaper's room is damn hard as well.
And I guess most people are lazy bastards and just look up for maps on the internet (at least I do). A great game to increase your reflexes is Conta (Battletoads too). For most other games, it's just "by heart" things. You just have to remember complete levels by heart to beat them without any problem.
Sorry about the map comment, that was a little arrogant on my part. I have looked up info on games many times before as well. But Dragon Warrior I have been playing recently, and I got a notion to figure it all out on my own---I found Erdrick's Sword by making maps (of the dungeon where it is ..don't want to spoil anything for anyone )the other night. It wasn't too hard, the maps aren't big and you can just use graph paper. Worked great.
As for the reaper---I have beat him with the cross boomerang thing instead of holy water. He is definitely very hard...but personally I find the final boss the hardest in the game...haven't beat it yet. Hope to some day though.
I actually find that the axes are a very good weapon to have against the Grim Reaper. They're great because when there's one of his scythe things above you (which there is A LOT of the time), you can throw an axe and it will take care of it. But you'll definitely want the "II" or "III" power ups so you can throw more than one quickly.
I actually didn't find the boss of the game to be that hard, and it's especially nice that you get to try him over and over without having to play the level over again. For the first form, it's all about timing. You have to time your jumps right so that you can A) hit his head, and B) get him to shoot the fireballs in the desired location so that you can either dodge them or whip them. The second part is a piece of cake if you know what to do. Go in with as many hearts as possible, and have the holy water equipped. At first I thought it was really hard, but it's really easy. Throw the holy water at his feet, and whip him IN THE HEAD. If you don't do this, nothing happens really. The holy water at his feet stuns him, so you can whip him in the face. Keep dumping holy water at his feet so he'll stay in the same position for most of the fight until he inevitably jumps to another location. Then just do the same and you should have beat him. It took me a couple tries to get the hang of it, but now that I know how it's pretty easy.
Yes, I was planning to go back and collect about a zillion hearts and then try again. When I last got to the final boss, it was really late at night and I finally had to give up. I'm sure I'll get it eventually though. What a great game, it never gets old!
Perhaps you should pick up (well, if you can't afford it then no you shouldn't) the GBA NES classic of CV, because you can continue from where you left off (the beginning of the current level; not exactly where you were when you shut it off). Or play it on an emu, but that's not as much fun. I played through CV and beat it on the NES, but that was pretty difficult! Lots of NES games have me sitting there longer than I would like . This year I actually toughed out a couple games that you have to beat straight through: Castlevania, Tiny Toons, Astyanax, and Karnov. I enjoyed all experiences, except I was so sick with the flu or cold when I played through Tiny Toons! That sucked, and I nearly fainted by the end of the game.
I never tried to beat grip with axes. I definitely have to give a shot at it.
Most prople do it with holy water, which makes it a piece of cake, but bring holy water to the room you fight him is very hard. Or with crosses, which is very very hard.
About the last boss how can you use crosses for the first form and holy water for the second ? Yes there is a candle with holy water inside the room, but if you throw any crosses at the first form, it will also hit the candle, and forces you to either ignore it or pick it up right away.
I admit I never beat CV without savestates (nor CV3), because the latter 2 stages gets really insane in both games.
Out of the early Castlevania games (i.e. before Symphony and 'Metroidvania') I've only beaten the first NES Castlevania and Rondo of Blood without save states. Some parts of the first game are real tough but if you're just lucky an prepared they go smoothly. Rondo takes a lot of practice but it pays off practice more than any C game.
Well, Simon's Quest is the hardest game ever without a walktrough, and the easiest game I've ever seen with a walktrough. If someone can't beat if I'd really feel lame for them, unless of course if they try to beat it without any external help.
I tried beating grim with axes but it really isn't good IMO. You can only get 3 hits which is really SO lame. Holy water or 3xCrosses is the only way to have *any* chances against him I guess.
I guess different sub weapons work better for different people. He is definitely the hardest boss in the game (I think the second hardest is definitely the dumb flea man on Frankenstein's shoulders or whatever that piece of crap is), but he's not impossible to beat without holy water or crosses. Technically you can beat him without any subweapon at all, it would just be insanely difficult.
The only time I remember beating him without the holy water I remember that I used the boomerang. But that was one tough battle. I hardly had any evergy left.
I don't remember using any holy water while fighting this boss a long, long time ago. I always liked the cross and this is the weapon I used most of the time.
I should give it a try someday, if I can find the time to play.
I finally did it the other day, I beat Dracula and didn't use savestates anywhere in the game. Playing the FDS version so I can save. This was the first NES game I picked out when I was a kid, and I wasn't ever able to get past the reaper back then (I think I always used the boomerang). With the triple holy water, he didn't even have a chance to move.
I beat Dracula on maybe the 5th or 6th try. I was kind of lucky, on his 2nd form the first time I whipped his fireballs he dropped a double upgrade, which makes the holy water 10X more useful. I was a little shocked, last time I tried beating him without any cheating my friend and I sat there taking turns for at least an hour until we eventually determined we must have the "royal red-ass" version of the game. Though there are at least 4 versions of the game, so I still kind of wonder (FDS version, 2 different US PRG versions, Famicom cart version). The credits still crack me up.. James Banana, Boris Karloffice, heheh.
Started on the "2nd quest", and wow those bats and medusa heads everywhere are really annoying. So yes, technically it took most of my lifetime to make it this far in the game (!).
Congratulations, I still have to beat grim without savestates.
And there is 5 versions of the game (not counting the GBA/Vitrual console) :
- FDS version
- US Version (the one that crash before Grim I guess)
- US second revision
- Pal version
- Japan cartridge re-release (this one has easy mode availalbe, which I did beat without savestates, but it doesn't really count)
Altough you can save on FDS version it's not that much different as you have unlimited continues anyway.
The cart version price in japan is prohibitive, around 100$ loose or 200$ complete since it was released later in a small quantity. So the only way to get it cheap is with the fds version. But the drive is not that stable so it always an issue.
I never played it with emulators to try to finish it since I finished it long time ago as a kid. Now I feel like trying it again to see if I can still finish that game or not. Maybe I should try this time the grim with holy water to see how it goes.
I always had a harder time with the Frankenstein/Igor combo then the Grim Reaper. I usually just beat him with the upgraded whip and timing my jumps. Then again, this was the first game I had besides SMB/DH.
This is probably the most appropriate topic for this...I just beat Castlevania 1, minutes ago, on my toaster nes. That was definitely the hardest game I've ever completed. From what I've read, Castlevania 2 is easy if you know all the weird secrets and then Castlevania 3 is even more punishing than the first game. I'm a little scared to attempt it. I won't be able to resist though, because Castlevania games are like that.
. This year I actually toughed out a couple games that you have to beat straight through: Castlevania, Tiny Toons, Astyanax, and Karnov. I enjoyed all experiences, except I was so sick with the flu or cold when I played through Tiny Toons! That sucked, and I nearly fainted by the end of the game.
